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The Cirque du Soleil continued its expansion outside its core circus business this week with the acquisition of Minnesota-based VStar Entertainment Group and its Florida-based circus arts subsidiary, Cirque Dreams. VStar is primarily a producer of live children’s and family shows, many of them based on properties from the Nickelodeon TV network and the Spin Master toy company.

One of the most popular VStar Entertainment Group offerings is PAW Patrol, a live show based on the animated TV program of the same name airing on Nickelodeon and TVOKids in Canada. The show PAW Patrol Live Race to the Rescue toured in 250 cities in 18 countries on four different continents in 2017.

No financial details of the transaction were revealed by the Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group.

This is the latest example of how the Montreal-based circus has been in aggressive expansion mode since it was bought in April 2015 by U.S. private-equity fund TPG Capital, in partnership with Chinese conglomerate Fosun International and Quebec investment fund the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Cirque founder Guy Laliberté sold the company and his family trust retained a 10-per-cent investment. The deal was estimated to be worth about $1.5 billion.

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When the Cirque was sold, the new owners and Cirque management said the goal was to expand into China and other markets. Almost a year ago, Cirque du Soleil bought the popular U.S. live production company the Blue Man Group.

The deal to acquire VStar is the Cirque du Soleil’s first incursion into the kids’ and family entertainment business, though, obviously, the Cirque du Soleil’s circus productions do appeal to children and adults alike. VStar Entertainment has produced more than 39,000 live shows that have been presented in more than 40 countries and it reaches almost 2 million people annually. It also creates large-scale mascots, sets and 3D installations for sports teams, marketing agencies and other companies.

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“It’s a new era because our new owners have the resources that help us accelerate our growth,” said Cirque du Soleil CEO Daniel Lamarre in a phone interview this week. “Our strategy is very clear — to develop more and more new markets around the world and also at the same time to bring new artistic content, which is all good news for Montreal because we’re creating jobs and you have an organization based here that is growing at a rapid pace that makes it exciting for all of our employees, including myself. For our artists, it means more creative challenges.”

Cirque du Soleil is already one of the world’s biggest live entertainment producers, offering shows in 450 cities every year, and Lamarre says the Blue Man Group has increased its international presence thanks to the backing of the Cirque distribution network. He believes the same thing will happen with the VStar properties.

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“What’s interesting about VStar strategically is that it brings us to the kids’ market,” Lamarre said. “Obviously, a lot of families are coming to Cirque du Soleil shows, but we have never targeted kids specifically and with VStar, that’s their specialty. They have an amazing partnership with Nickelodeon … the most popular property is PAW Patrol. I didn’t know that much about it until I spoke to my grandkids. They were very excited about that. It’s a huge franchise for kids. So we think there is great potential with them and with their kids’ expertise to expand all the kids’ properties we can acquire together and distribute internationally.”

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VStar’s Cirque Dreams is specialized in the tourist business, with cruise shows and productions at Gaylord Hotels and in small theatres across the U.S.

With this diversification, some fear the Cirque may stray from its main mandate of producing artsy circus shows, but that is not the case, Lamarre says.

“We are going to produce more Cirque du Soleil shows than ever before,” Lamarre said. “So the core business remains a very important development axe of our business. We have a lot going on in China, we have new shows in development. The mandate we have from our new owners is to become the global leader of live entertainment and in order to do that, if you don’t want to put too much pressure on the core business, it’s by adding other types of content to acquire new audiences.”

The Cirque used to produce one new show a year, which meant they usually had two new shows in the pipeline at any given time. Now the circus is producing three new shows a year, which means they have about 10 productions in different phases of development now.

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